Motorola just announced three new RAZR phones for Verizon, and today the handset maker teamed up with Intel to reveal the RAZR i. This new smartphone looks almost exactly like the Motorola RAZR M we saw earlier this month, but it now features a 2.0 GHz Intel Atom chip.

Motorola RAZR i will be available in black beginning in October in select European and Latin American markets including the U.K., France, Germany, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico with more to be announced. A stand out white version will also be coming to select markets. Pricing and availability will vary by country, so Motorola suggests you visit www.motorola.com/razri for the latest information.

New features of the RAZR i, not found in the RAZR M, include instant-launch camera and multi-shot mode that lets you snap 10 pictures in less than a second. Motorola has been traditionally weak in the camera department when compared with others, so it’s nice to see them include these features.

“Together with Intel, we’re redefining what people can expect from a mobile device. A camera that launches in an instant, Web pages that load blazingly fast and a device that’s the perfect balance of screen size and fit in hand,” said Jim Wicks, senior vice president, Consumer Experience Design, Motorola Mobility. “RAZR i delivers just that when you put an Intel-fast processor in a beautifully designed phone and add in extra long battery life.”

So how does Intel’s single-core 2.0 GHz chip match up with Qualcomm’s dual-core 1.5 GHz chip found in the RAZR M? Early benchmark scores show that the Intel Atom exceeds at browser javascript performance, but the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus wins all the other synthetic tests. We have only played with the Droid RAZR M, so we don’t know if there will be any noticeable difference in performance between the two devices.

This is Intel’s most high profile smartphone launch ever, but this device is not currently slated for the US and Motorola is still using Qualcomm to power their flagship devices. Hopefully next year we will see a hero device with Intel inside come to the US and give the ARM-based chip producers a better challenge.

Taylor is the founder of Android and Me. He resides in Dallas and carries the Samsung Galaxy S 4 and HTC One as his daily devices. Ask him a question on Twitter or Google+ and he is likely to respond. | Ethics statement

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Nate B.

I’m pretty sure it performs well and fast, but I don’t care what kind of processor you put in a phone. If the OS itself isn’t flawless or designed very well, then it will stutter here and there. Reason of Jellybean and iOS. But I am interested in seeing this processor or an A15 in the next Nexus. With everything built to place nice with each other as well.

Nate B.

I meant *play nice

http://www.jaxidian.org/update/ jaxidian

Is the bootloader unlockable? Or does it have a bios? What’s the deal with x86-based Android devices on that front?

the fuj.

I know last year we were able to unlock and and update the ROM on the Logitech Revue which is powered by Intel Atom. I’m not sure if that translates to this device or not but it was possible in the past.

Nathan D.

The processor is just a bit behind in the benchmark with the s4 processor winning every round but browser speed which seems reasonable since it is a processor from Intel. But for only being a single core it pretty dam good.

zerosix

Processor is just one side of the medal. The other side is battery life.
Actually, there is a third side of the medal: apps. If I’m not mistaken, NDK apps should be specially made for each processor architecture.

triangle

It’s very interesting that Motorola is using intel chips for a phone that would otherwise use the snapdragon S4. The only reasons that I can think of for Motorola to take this route would be: 1) cost and 2) availability of chips.

Qualcomm has said that they are experiencing shortages of S4 chips due to limited manufacturing facilities, so that makes sense. In the US, with LTE networks, I would imagine that everyone is using S4 chips because there are no issues with the processor playing well with the LTE chipset.

Taylor, do you know of any other reasons why Motorola might be choosing intel?

cypher

Was I the only one who was hoping that Motorola would announce a phone with clover trail (z2580) instead of medfield?

http://androidandme.com Taylor Wimberly

Looks like clover trail is only going to appear in windows 8 tablets. We will have to wait for next year to see new Atom chips for phones.

zerosix

Yep, Intel says Clover Trail will not work with Linux and Android is based on Linux. Well, maybe that’s not quite true (but who knows?), but there is another thing, that will prevent it from appearing in portable devices: it’s a desk- or laptop solution, where low power consumption is not the main thing.

cypher

This picture is why I thought there could be a small chance that the RAZR i would have the dual core soc: tinyurl.com/9xcb99j

After reading a bit more it seems that this particular chip (z2580) will be available in the first half of 2013.

Hom0ncruse

final nail in the coffin for motorola

Mix

Not that bad looking but I wonder what the price will be?

I’m quietly waiting to hear more on the Optimus G….

CTown

Just imagine how stupid pirates are going to feel when they try to play their C/C++ games that were compiled for ARM on this Intel-based phone!

yankeesusa

I guess motorola is making enough money of verizon to not allow other companies to use the rzr phones. I would love to give it a try.

http://www.focuszonedevelopment.com Homncruse

Well, it’s an Intel-based Android phone, so I’m sure it’ll last you more than long enough for everything you can do with it.

http://www.focuszonedevelopment.com Homncruse

Unless they can do something magical about app compatibility without sacrificing performance via simulator (install-time ARM-to-x86 cross-compiler?), I don’t care how sexy it looks (it does look pretty sexy), I doubt there will be a mass-exodus of app developers releasing two versions of their NDK-based apps for compatibility.

Please don’t make me use the f-word…

Ciao

99% of apps dont use ndk. And even if they do, there is no f_blabla-problem at all.

http://www.focuszonedevelopment.com Homncruse

Um, pretty much every non-casual game (think just about everything with “3D” graphics) uses the NDK since many of them are coded in C/C++.

SGB101

This phone looks stunning and the perfect size for me. However I’m not sold on Intel yet, never had a moto and an unsure if the devs will support it.

marcus1518

This phone looks sweeet

dutrak

Benchmark please

amit kumar

Wow amazing and pretty solid tablet. Thanks for one of the fairest review of the Motorola RAZ R. I got its full specification on this site as well. http://www.gadtecho.com/

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